On the occasion of the successful commissioning of the new moving belt in the DNW-LLF, an international symposium on ground proximity simulation was held on 25 and 26 April 2013. The symposium, sponsored by the AIAA as well as the DGLR brought together wind tunnel operators, aircraft manufacturers and academic researchers concerned with the realistic simulation and prediction of the effect of ground proximity upon the aircraft and engine aerodynamics. The first day of the symposium was taken up by presentations of various contributing parties, which will be collected in a booklet. On the photo all the podium presenters of the first day of the symposium are gathered. The topics presented ranged from the calibration of the moving belt as the simulator of an airport runway to the possible loss of lift in ground proximity despite the common expectation of lift enhancement.
On the second day of the symposium a visit to the facility with its new equipment was on the agenda. Here the participants could admire the professionalism of the equipment provider (MTS) and the operator DNW.
Due acknowledgement was expressed to the financial enablers of this significant improvement in aerodynamic ground simulation: the European Commission, the DLR and the Dutch government who provided the funding for this part of the LLF upgrade. Many of the attending representatives of major aircraft manufacturers discussed their plans to use the new capability in their development process with the DNW representatives during the site visit.
With the new equipment the DNW is now in a position to realistically simulate the behavior of aircraft above the runway over the whole relevant speed range (0 to 80 m/s), instead of only half of it, which was the case up until the completion of this part of the strategic upgrade. The first customers have already had their tests performed above the new belt.